The present teachings relate generally to methods and apparatus for determining the location of a mobile device, and more particularly to platforms and techniques for providing location services to mobile devices independent of location fixing hardware present in the mobile devices.
Cellular telephone technology has become the predominate mode of communication in today's society. Cellular telephones have advanced to a point to include a wide variety of features for the cellular telephone user. One such feature is location fixing for the cellular telephones. Currently, many types of cellular telephones include location fixing hardware, such as Global Positioning System (GPS). As a consequence, the cost of cellular telephones has risen due to the inclusion of the advance features. The cellular telephones are required to be manufactured to include hardware, such as GPS receivers and software, to support the location fixing.
Additionally, cellular telephones may be limited in their ability to determine the location. For example, GPS enabled telephones are required to have an unobstructed view of the sky in order to receive the GPS signal. As such, GPS enabled telephones often will not be able to fix a location of the telephone if in-doors or blocked by trees. Accordingly, method and systems are needed that provide cost effective and flexible location services for mobile devices.